


A New Beginning

by HolyGuacomole



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alexandria Safe-Zone (Walking Dead), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Butterfly Effect, Canon Rewrite, Character Study, Episode Remix, Found Family, Gen, Introspection, M/M, Rare Pairings, canon- compliant up to a point
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:21:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27621992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HolyGuacomole/pseuds/HolyGuacomole
Summary: What if the second walker hadn't bitten Tyreese's arm? What if Tyreese survived his amputation? What if Rick and Tyreese were able to openly appreciate each other, and take advantage of their new life in Alexandria?
Relationships: Rick Grimes/Tyreese Williams
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. Reunited

**Author's Note:**

> previously titled "Love Seen Through the Eyes of Those Who Mourn," but then I realized the ominous connotations that can have, lmao
> 
> I understand the new title isn't very unique, but it's definitely more optimistic! 
> 
> this fic isn't beta-read cuz none of my friends are as into twd as me, and no one has read Rick/Tyreese... ever??
> 
> please be kind, and enjoy!!

Rick held her so soft and secure; held her gentle in strong, beaten hands’. Judith was much bigger than when he saw her last, but still so small. Almost unhealthily small, but who wasn't in their group?

Rick feels reassured with both children held so closely. A missing piece of them fitting in-between that only she could fill. All at once, the relief of holding her again, coupled with renewed loss over Lori hit him like a cold clock to the chest, and Rick nearly collapsed with the emotional whiplash. Carl was there too though, thank everything still holy under the sun. 

And this moment felt Holy. 

Carl’s own strong hands were tender and sure. One grasping his bicep, reminding Rick to keep standing for them, and the other brushing over Judith’s downy hair, a wondrous smile broadening over his dirt-covered face. God, he looked like his mother; in the curve of his lips’,   
in the soft curl to his hair, and the reddening of his ears. Rick could see parts of himself in his son’s face of course, but all he needed at that moment were the pieces made up of his wife.   
He studied Judith with an intensity he hadn’t initiated all those months ago; moments he should have taken the time and care for, but was too consumed with grief and ghosts and gardening. Simultaneously focused on building a future for his family, but struggling in past tragedies. 

Judith shared her nose with Lori; another blessing, considering Shane’s own, Rick thought a little hysterically. It no longer pained Rick to think of his old friend. He realized now Shane’s strength was needed now, more than ever, in this life. Rick wouldn’t hide Judith’s parentage from her; Rick would tell about her other father with loving nostalgia one day, as soon as she could understand. Rick’s life was just a series of repetitive lessons that time was never promised. Time was precious, and family was the only grace left in this world.

A warm presence behind the Grimes’ family circle reminded Rick of another person he needed to see- to apologize to. As he turns, Rick takes in the rest of the group. Carol, standing straighter than he’s ever seen after their hug in the trees, was holding up the sweetest little grin, as well as Daryl, who looked like he’d fall straight down if his finger’s lost ahold of her patchy jacket. Michonne, standing close to Maggie and Glenn, with gazes of warmth. Bob was just a pace behind, beaming, standing next to the quartet of new faces. 

Tyreese was crying, but Rick was certain he was hale and hearty. His brown eyes seemed as clear as the day before Karen got sick. He wanted to say sorry all over again; to fall to his knees in supplication to this man that he treated so raw in the midst of their grief, but no words came. Apologies and gratitude filled his mouth like rocks, choking his throat, but all that tumbled out was a helpless gasp. Brown locked with blue, and Rick knew any words said would never measure up. 

They reached, with hands that have committed senseless violence against the other, and held shoulders with benign care. Tears running down their faces’, eyes burning from the sweat and sun, with the stench of death saturated into both their clothes’, Rick thought Tyreese looked immaculate. 

Sasha stood not one foot away, beaming so big and wide, that Rick can’t believe he hadn’t noticed her until then. (Granted, Rick barely noticed anyone else once Judith was revealed to be cradled in his large arms.) With the siblings sticking as close as Daryl to Carol, friends surrounding the Grimes family in a broken circle, Rick felt almost whole.

The appeal of wiping out the last dregs of those cannibals from existence still weighed on Rick’s mind, but having this small moment of peace to cry and breath reminded him that the group’s protection was the priority. Shielding Judith from this violence was his priority. Peering down at his confused daughter, Rick noticed again just how little she was in his embrace, but also how relatively clean she was in comparison to Carol and Tyreese; to himself when his finger-tips left brown smudges down her beige pants’. Without a word needing to be said, Rick feels a nudge at his side and looks up to see Tyreese handing him a bandana. 

“Thank you,” he whispered, not wanting to disturb Judith further, who was fussing from their reintroduction.

Rick felt no compunction about handing his baby back to Tyreese, who’d proved himself to be a valuable caregiver, while Rick wiped his hands. Carl stayed by Judith’s side, Sasha giving him a one-armed hug; both children were obviously in good company, so Rick approached the rest of the group to let them know he’d finally agree to move on.

***

“I’m sorry I didn’t say anythin’ about Carol. Back at the prison, there’d been time ‘nough, but-.”

“Yeah, you shoulda, but it’s…” Tyreese trailed off, having trouble with speaking up, still confused about his own feelings. “It’s done now.”

“It wasn’t right, an’ I was in charge, and I owed it to Karen to confess, to you o’course, but I still wanted to protect Carol.” 

Tyreese gnawed on his lips and turned away; he could see the confliction marring Rick’s face- knew his own was morphing into something similar- and knew he needed to elaborate to ease things further. “We hurt each other. We hurt each other just denying sympathy. I can see why you thought I wouldn’t’ve reacted well.

“But hindsight makes me think about everyone else that died in pain, died in fear, and I gotta hold onto Carol promising that it was quick.”

Rick flinched at that, but Tyreese continued, “That it seemed to her less painful and cruel than just leaving her to die there cho-choking.”

His heart still burned just like the tears down his face. Tyreese abstractly thought about how he’s never cried so much in his life. “I used to think about it.”

“About it?”

“About burning her too.” The admittance tasted like familiar acid. “I threw up after the thought.”

Rick continued to stay quiet; probably speechless.

“I never considered myself a violent man. A killer. Hell, I could barely make myself spear a walker back at the prison. It always came down to life and death for me.” Tyreese felt real heavy then; unloading shoulda made a person feel lighter, right?

He sat down abruptly to the dirt- noticed in his peripheral Sasha turned towards them, quick with worry- but Rick seemed to feel equally as burdened with how fast he followed Tyreese to sit. “After thinking that way though… I never wanna feel that out of control again. Karen was a good part of this new life for me. The day after Carol told me- the day we lost the gi-.”

Rick huddled closer, shoulder to shoulder, “The girls? Mika and Lizzie?”

“... Yeah.” Tyreese couldn’t say their names, “I realized Carol was another good part.”

“Good parts sometimes go hand in hand with bad parts.”

Tyreese appreciated that Rick didn’t try to defend murder, “I’ve got bad parts. Carol knows she does. I… can forgive her, because I know it was her form of mercy. I don’t want her outta my life.”

The two men sat closer together after that. Sat quiet together for as long as they could before Daryl looped back toward them through the trees to tell ‘em about the stream just a half-mile away. Carol came over with Judith, who blew spittle in greeting and offered a hand up.

Tyreese offered up his own without hesitation, then did the same for Rick.

***

He’d never found men attractive before.

Yeah, aesthetically speaking, Rick could discern who was attractive and who wasn’t (Lori’s opinion during their tv date nights helped him form a certain perspective, probably), but he’d never put much thought into finding them appealing, to begin with. So, at that moment,   
Rick couldn’t help but feel confused.

“Lemme take ‘er,” Tyreese’s voice was deep and reassured. “I got the baby carrier.”

“What?” Rick felt like that was a stupid question, but Tyreese just smiled in answer and swung his pack off.

“Carol helped me make it. Told me ‘bout her old PTA group- how they’d share tips an’ things that taught her how to make your own baby carrier.”

“Huh,” Rick relaxed against the nearest tree, Judith sleeping limp on his chest, “Wish Lori’s friend’s’d been that resourceful. The one we got for Carl? Kissed half my very firs’ paycheck goodbye.”

Tyreese chuckled along as he stepped closer, holding up what Rick had assumed to be a regular backpack, instead showing a kind of cloth wrapping secured tight under and over the straps. “See? Instead of tying it to myself, we thought it’d be safer to use the pack as a kind of covering, and this way she can be put down away from danger if I gotta fight.”

“That’s smart,” Rick said. 

He wanted to say more. 

Tyreese bashfully ducked his head.

“Real smart.” Couldn’t say more’n that.

“Just thinkin’ o’ Judy.”

Rick noticed how Tyreese’s cheeks appled when he smiled. Hadn’t seen him smile in a long while. Smiling suited him. 

Rick knew his face was red, and it felt like his chest was constricted. 

“I’ll teach you how to put her in.”

_Tyreese is attractive._

***

“Help! Please, help me!”

Judith stirred in the carrier with little kicks to his back as they got nearer the desperate cries, but Tyreese knew to stay at the tail-end of the group while the rest rushed forward. Everyone was in agreement that keeping Judith safe and calm during crises was the priority; Tyreese was old-hat at sensing on-coming fits.

“Hey, hey baby-girl,” Tyreese shushed the girl low while he untucked her chubby arms from out of the sling when he saw the walkers were taken care of. “It’s alright now. No monsters here.”

Judith quieted at his whispers almost instantly; Carol teased how jealous she was of his natural talent. She’d tell him how Sophia screamed the minute she was born and just never stopped. Sometimes she couldn’t even say her name.

“That’s a beautiful child.”

Tyreese felt his shoulders tense when the preacher noticed Judith. He didn’t even have to see Rick’s face to know that the stranger was skatin’ thin ice. Michonne’s face was stone.   
_Choose your next words carefully, man._

“Do you have a camp?”

“No.” If Michonne’s face was stone, Rick’s was steel, “Do you?”

Tyreese looked around the trees, almost imagining eyes peering out at them through the leaves, but shook the thought away to hold Judith closer; to ground him in the reality of the now. Paranoia would always be a constant, but he had to be paranoid about the real threats. _This priest looks twitchy._

“What have you done? We’ve all done something.”

Rick said that so resolutely.

Tyreese thought about Allen, thought about Lizzie.

Gareth lying out cold in that cabin.

***

The church was small, but solid, with four walls and a roof. It had cushions on the pews and a blessedly clean floor. Goddam cleaner than the shuttered up suburbs Rick had last slept in with Michonne and Carl.

No people hiding to ambush.

News of a potential stash of food made Rick perk up, but he wouldn’t get his hopes up, not till he saw the odds. As the priest told them the numbers they were likely to encounter, Rick noticed Tyreese look away toward Carl and Judith, uncomfortable. He remembered their conversation in the woods not one day ago. 

“We can handle a dozen.” Rick kept staring at Tyreese, feeling something unfathomable knot his chest. He wanted Tyreese to hear him.

“Bob and I’ll go with,” Sasha replied with ease, staring at Tyreese as well. “Tyreese should stay here, help keep Judith safe.”

A kind sister.

“That’ll be okay?” Rick felt that question almost redundant.

“Sure. You ever need me to watch her, need anything for her, I’m right here.”

“I’m grateful for it,” The knot loosened. “And everything else.”

***

_Everything else…_ Finding Carol. Not killing Carol.

Tyreese heard those unspoken words. Felt content in their truth. It didn’t change the fact that he understood Rick also felt unsure of Tyreese's capability to confront walkers. There was no verbal confirmation, but Tyreese saw that question in those blue eyes. Carol knew, but she’d already said her piece. Sasha knew and understood. Rick knew because Tyreese had told him, and they both knew Rick would have to have some words about it before it became an issue. Before the rest of the group noticed. Before it becomes a liability. 

Rick and Carl trusted Tyreese with Judith’s life, but they wouldn’t be able to if their confidence in him wavered. He wouldn’t trust himself either.

“Hey, Daryl,” Tyreese called across the church where the archer was napping after coming back with Carol from their water retrieval.

Daryl grunted in answer, not lifting his head from the pillow of his knapsack. 

“When the rest come back, on your next perimeter sweep, can I come with?”

Daryl grunted twice more.

“Roger, roger,” Tyreese said back while lifting Judith out of the make-shift crib to feed her some mashed-up communion crackers her brother had found in little plastic baggies under one of the seats. In retaliation to being woken up from her own short sleep, Judith spat out her fist crumby mouthful, then laughed at his scrunched up face.

“So rude, Judy!” Carl giggled right behind them but offered Tyreese nothing to wipe his face. “Rudey Judy.”

Carol, leaning against the door-frame of what used to be the daycare, joined the laughter, but was kind enough to bring over a rag.

***

_It’s gotta be worth it._ Tyreese reminded himself as he watched Daryl sink the sharp end of a branch into the sunken socket of a walker caught in a thicket. The pitiful thing’s legs were covered in moss and its hair was almost braided in the branches. Tyreese noticed, past the leaves, it was wearing a grimy ‘Jesus Saves’ sweater.

Daryl didn’t even spare it a glance after retrieving the jagged stick, just kept walking on with a pat to Tyreese’s shoulder, “Not a lot of ‘em out here. That pansy-assed priest was a lucky son’u’va bitch.”

“We’re lucky to have found him. We needed a break.”

“Don’t jinx it.”

“Jinx what?” Carol asked from the front doorsteps as the men walked out of the woods.

“There’s not much dead roamin’ around here,” Tyreese replied. “I was tellin’ Daryl some peace is nice.”

“Ain’t no peace anywhere these days,” Daryl spit off to the side but shrugged his shoulders. “No stalkers neither. Just one walker.”

_And I didn’t even end that one._ Tyreese offered nothing more to Carol and Daryl’s chat; he just wanted to see Judith. See some peace.

“Bath time for you, Rudey Judy!” An energized voice sang from inside when he entered the relatively cool building.

“Aw, no. Carl told you her new nick-name?” Tyreese felt his face pull into the easiest smile seeing Rick back home safe with the baby bundled up in one of his strong arms’.

_Home?_

“If she’s not careful, it may just stick,” Rick taunted his daughter, who was wrapped in a piece of fine linen, her old clothes balled up in his other free hand. “We stopped by the same stream Daryl an’ Carol got our water from; Michonne helped me fill a free container to give this lil’ dumplin’ a wash.”

“Oh, damn, I’m jealous now.”

Rick let out a high-pitched laugh (both men clearly startled by the sound, but they both chose to ignore it), “We’re gonna take turns for cleanin’ up. The women are goin’ first, then it’s our turn.”

Tyreese’s smile grew- he was startin’ to feel like a fool for doin’ it so much around this family- and reached for a clean looking onesie, “Where’d this come from?”

“We found that cute number at the food bank,” Sasha practically skipped over, carrying what looked to be a small shirt with rainbow-colored sheep; Bob trailed behind sedately. “And this one too! That place was barely picked over, so we snagged everyone a clean change of clothes.”

Sasha almost seemed to be glowing. Tyreese hadn’t seen her this happy in… a long time. And why shouldn’t she? They were all back together again and had escaped a compound of cannibals. They were in a stable shelter with a cache of food and clean drinking water. Bob. Everything was turnin’ up daisies right now for her, but Tyreese remembered Daryl’s words from earlier, so he wouldn’t say anything.

“Got somethin’ in my size? See a Big ‘n Tall section? I don’t think Abraham ‘n I’ll fit too well in Rick-size,” Tyreese poked fun at the back of their leader’s head.

Rick gave a mock glare to the pair of them, but carried on smiling as he gently scrubbed at Judith’s cheeks’, “Sure, rag on the guy who found you new cargo pants.”

“Oh, I’d apologize if I were you Ty, or Rick just might hand those over to your only competition!” Sasha bumped his elbow, then Bob’s, who simply quirked his mouth and headed for the nearest seat. Tyreese raised a brow at Bob’s unusual silence and looked to Sasha. “I think he’s just tired. He had a close call back there.”

“I am tired,” Bob answered their worry with a calm measure. “After a quick sit and a good rinse, I’ll be good as new, so you ladies best get to it. I’ll be dreamin’ about washing the day off me until you get back!”

“Dad!” Carl called across the church, “Michonne found me Green Lantern socks!”

The kid’s teeth were on full display as he jogged up to their little group at the altar, leaving a pleased-looking Michonne standing beside Carol and Maggie at the front doors. Tyreese was speechless. Everyone in the church was in high spirits and he couldn’t help but feel victorious. Tyreese locked eyes with Daryl, who appeared just as affected.

_Fuck it._

“It’s a good day.”


	2. Resolve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He jinxed it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going more into the introspection aspect of these characters as my own thought process to how they're dealing with and justifying their actions, as well as each other.
> 
> Strap in kids, this is gonna be rough.

A God-damned horror show.

Rick could feel the viscera and blood, cooled and chafing now quicker than his younger self would’ve been comfortable with, stuck to his face, coating his hands. The air was thick with their adrenaline musk and the stink of their victims. Garret and his cannibals lay gored out on the previously pristine chapel floors, faces unrecognizable. Ironically paralleling the corpses laid out in their butcher warehouse just days ago.

Rick felt monstrous.

Rick felt vindicated.

The leader made sure to catch Glenn’s gaze where he knew he’d been standing, watching. _This is why we go back. This is why we kill them all._

Glenn met his stare. 

_Monstrous._

A sharp cry echoed in the silent room.

Rick looked away from his friend; away from what used to be Garret.

Judith was crying, alive. He could see Carl through the doorway, unscathed and steadily cradling his baby sister to his chest, with pale moonlight gently encompassing them from the window.

_I’m no monster. I’m a father._

“We’re okay,” Carl confirmed, already knowing what Rick was going to ask. “Rudey Judy just loves the attention.”

Rick reached out to kiss his boy’s forehead when he felt a presence behind him. Michonne’s gaze was unreadable, but her mouth was soft. He moved aside with just one more pet to Judith’s hair so as to allow her the affirmation of a squeeze to Carl’s shoulder. Rick looked to the other corner of the dark room where he finally registered the sound of strained breathing. “Is… Is it done?”

But God did Bob sound assured, even with his ever-weakening voice. Tyreese was kneeling beside their dying friend with a stiff back to them; his shoulders undeniably tense and face hidden in shadow as he answered for Rick, “It’s done.” 

Rick stared at Tyreese, guts tightened up all over again.

For very different reasons.

***

“They think they’re in control.”

“Tyreese. You up for this?”

“If he stops breathing, you put it through his temple.”

“That’s what Bob would want.”

Tyreese had no answers, no arguments, ready at hand. Tyreese hadn’t felt an ounce of control since he and Sasha broke into their neighbor’s bunker one hot Georgian day years ago. God. 

_God._ Where was he, anyway? Not in this chapel. 

“It’s done,” Rick echoed his answer, but Tyreese didn’t turn to acknowledge him. Didn’t turn because he didn’t want to see the violent contrast of his face to such a soft answer.  
“We got ‘em.”

Time seemed to move like a receding wave around him, just numbly sitting in the corner while everyone else carried on into the night. For the briefest of moments after checking in with Bob after the massacre, he remembers feeling a gentle hand to the back of his neck lead him to the corner he was currently slumped against. Tyreese remembers closing his eyes’ to the clear black sky; finally feeling the stiff ache of his neck and the pain expand to the top of his skull.  
It felt like just a minute of stillness had settled over their group, and then he blinked awake to see the moon fading in pale, morning orange. 

The slightest movement clued him in that last night’s headache hadn’t left. Nothing to do but bear with it. Tyreese made sure his movements were quiet, so as not to wake anyone else. They all needed the rest, but there was work to do. 

Sasha’s head laid over Bob’s quilted leg and their hands’ were clasped. He didn’t know how Bob had managed it, but somehow, he’d gotten his sister to fall asleep with a smile. 

Bob couldn’t hide his pain in sleep. 

Tyreese hastened his exit to the main room, stepping over the inseparable Glenn and Maggie curled near the wall, and with a passing nod to Carl, who was watching Bob’s chest move up and down.

Of course, Rick was right outside the doorway, at-the-ready for the worst-case scenario, eyes blood-shot but hands’ steady. Of course, he’d prepare himself for Bob. Rick wore guilt like a well-tailored coat, but he so often fashioned it into ‘responsibility.’ Their leader was blaming himself for the impossible.

Tyreese looked away before Rick could register his presence behind him. He was that tired. “You can sleep, Rick. He’s still with us.”

Tyreese thinks he whispered just loud enough for the other man to hear. He still didn’t look to see if it was heard. Tara was snoring lightly across a pew, but clutching a sheathed knife close to her chest with a furrowed brow. Abraham had nestled his head atop Rosita’s lap, both of them slumbering deeply.

As if killing those people was just a job well done. 

No. Tyreese wasn’t gonna paint these people in that light. He’d already come to terms with his own dysfunctional morals. It’d be hypocritical to hold others to his own set of standards, especially considering how muddled they were to even himself.

“I should forgive them?”

Is this what forgiveness looks like now?

Tyreese escaped the church and all of their sins decorating the floorboards. 

Carol and Daryl weren’t there standing guard outside like he was hoping they would be.  
It seemed so wrong that they weren’t there… but it was something he knew Carol was thinking about constantly. While Rick took on the mantle of leadership, Carol seemed determined to be the martyr.  
But Tyreese also knew Daryl wouldn’t let her go without a fight. Wherever they left to, he knew Daryl would do everything he could to bring her back. 

The bodies were wrapped in tarps, just piled onto the carts they’d used yesterday to carry the food, just about 30 yards from the church steps. Rick and the rest must have done that while he was out of it. They probably meant to burn the bodies last night, but he doesn’t blame them for leaving the task undone. Last night was a devil of a rollercoaster. 

The walkers stumbling nearby toward the smell of fresh corpses didn’t make Tyreese pause. After last night, Tyreese realized that death to walkers was a mercy. 

Death to humans was a sentence. 

He served them their justice.

***

_Remember what these people are capable of._

Rick stared down at Bob’s feverish eyes, barely open, but doling out so much love. Sasha looked like she could hardly stand it. Shoulders already shaking with unsuppressed grief, Maggie gently brushed off some dried viscera from her vest as she passed to say her own goodbye. Glenn stepped to Sasha’s side to steady her in the temporary absence of strength, with Tyreese standing post like a statue behind them.

_Remember what people are capable of._

Rick shifted uneasily in the stale church air, feeling more stifled by this emotional morning than even restrained to wait for his throat to be slit. That methodical system of not wanting to waste  
a kill made sense to him.

The death of a good man would never make sense to him.

Judith’s small fingers tugging at his sweaty shirt made him refocus. He felt so dirty still, even after washing up with the group that morning to… to be presentable? Rick felt entirely inadequate, holding his daughter, still staring at Bob.

Rick never should have turned away from his friends in the food bank. That preacher’s life would never compare to any of theirs. Certainly not Bobs’. 

He wouldn’t make the same mistake again. 

“Rick,” the leader turned to hand his daughter over to his son to be alone for what was appearing to be their friend’s final moments, but Bob cajoled, “No, don’t. Let her stay. I trust her.

“I just want to say thank you.”

“For what?” Rick found it was becoming increasingly difficult to hold back his tears, with no one else in the room to put on a front for.

“Before the prison, I didn’t know if there were any good people left. I didn’t know if anybody was left. You took me in. ’Cause you took people in. It was _you_ , man.”

How can someone be the reason to hope and despair all at once? Rick couldn’t bear the weight of Bob’s words’. Rick did not know how to reconcile Bob’s message of faith with his own building resound to protect and provide for only their own. But he knew Bob needed to feel his beliefs were being heard; they were. Rick grabbed a hold of his warm hand.

“What I said yesterday, I ain’t revisin’ it. Even in light of current events.

“Nightmares end. They shouldn’t end who you are. And that is just this dead man’s opinion.”

Now Rick couldn’t look away. “I’ll take it.”

Bob spread his lips in a wide smile, teeth grit through pain for it. “Just look at her, and tell me the world isn’t gonna change.”

Judith blinked slowly over to Bob, as if hearing his words, and blessed both with a smile.

***

The sun beat down on Tyreese’s aching back as he plunged the shovel down deeper into the earth. Shadows had shaded his face when he plunged the knife into Bob’s skull. He felt equally watched no matter where he went.

Tyreese briefly registered their friend’s departure with Abraham’s group, barely managing a, “ _travel safe_ ,” but he knew he had to say something. This could be the last time they saw them. Goodbyes were too final. Goodbyes spelled a death sentence.

The soil was surprisingly easy to shovel but not as easy as sticking a blade through a man’s forehead.

“I never asked how it was for you getting to Terminus.”

Oh. Rick was by his side.

Tyreese looked up at him, helpless and at a loss, “... It killed me.”

Rick’s face turned so unaccepting and grief-stricken. Tyreese carried on digging, displeased at having reduced Rick to speechlessness. His answer had felt like the truth, so he’d say it again. So many parts of Tyreese have been dying off as the years carry on, but confessing that thought to help kill Rick’s confidence in him felt especially cruel.

He heard the other shovel start to move. The solidarity in the movement made Tyreese feel almost grateful. It seemed even if Tyreese couldn’t be counted on by his friend, he wouldn’t abandon him. 

“No, it didn’t”

Rick spoke up with such quiet confidence, Tyreese didn’t dare stop digging.

But his eyes’ left the ground to stare upwards. 

Upwards at a steadfast man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this chapter is shorter than the first, but it felt right to end it there.
> 
> I'm going to be getting rid of a lot of my superfluous tags cuz it's kinda self-explanatory and looks chunky.
> 
> **Please tell me what y'all think of the fic!**


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